Tonight: Hello, Animal Hospital; so-long, Ho-Ag?

Judging by the respect of his peers, Kevin Micka just might be the best producer in Boston -- and he's certainly one of the most beloved. He wasn't around much last fall -- he spent big chunks of time in Europe, hopping on shows while doing tour sound for Beirut (yes, that Beirut) and touring with Neptune. So expect to see a who's who of the local underground when he puts his pedals to the metal in his awe-inspiring solo looped-guitar project ANIMAL HOSPITAL at Great Scott tonight.

The GS show is also the final performance by Allston faves HO-AG -- at least, the final performance in this incarnation. Founding guitarist Patrick Kim and bassist Nicholas "Nkls" Ward are leaving the band; in an email to fans, Matt Parrish pledged to carry on without naming any replacements: "I've been playing with Patrick since roughly 1995, recording ourselves feeding back through flange pedals for hours and carrying around matching guitars way before Ho-Ag ever started. Nkls appeared into the Ho-Ag orbit seemingly out of nowhere in 2005 and rescued us from what might have been a totally disasterous and ill-conceived tour (see, it was scheduled before we even *had* a bass player). Lucky for us, he ended up being an amazing musician and rad friend." Parrish adds, "Join us to say goodbye to these fine gentleman and to pepper them as many times as possible with awkward questions beginning with the word 'why.'" Lolz.